Araucana thread anyone?

[megcpat]

Beats me. My guess would be, like you said, the name of the breeder, the line of Araucana, but I've never heard the name before ( I'm FAR from an authority on the matter though). Good looking bird........ is he calling to you HappyMtn? Bet he's sweet and lovely and what cute chicks he could make!

 

[key west chick]

I have 2 Araucanas. Sorry, no pics, I'm computer illiterate! But I do have a rumpless/clean faced roo that comes closest to what I call a gold duckwing. I also have a mottled tailed/clean faced hen that lays a beautiful little blue egg.

 

[megcpat]

I understand the computer thing, Key West...... I had such a hard time figuring out how to get my photos up. Too bad, though, because I'd love to see photos of your birds. By the way, the hens that I have lay a great big egg for a bantam - exactly the same size as my standard size Black Astrolorp lays on her small egg days. Is this typical of the Araucana banties? It's a superb trait as far as I'm concerned. Also, the blue is lovely..... not a hint of green. I can't wait to open one up and see if it is blue on the inside also, as I have heard that this is desired in the Araucanas.

 

[Goose and Fig]

Huh- well I did some searching- and I guess Ardenner is a completely different breed. It's a Beligian bird that has a single comb and can also be rumpless.

 

[amazondoc]

Quote:
In order to be shown, an araucana must have ear tufts. However, because of the way the tuft gene works, it's impossible to produce 100% of birds with tufts. The tufting gene is lethal when a bird has two copies of it, so all tufted araucanas are heterozygous for the trait. So you will always produce some chicks that don't have tufts, no matter what you do.

 

[Goose and Fig]

Quote:
In order to be shown, an araucana must have ear tufts. However, because of the way the tuft gene works, it's impossible to produce 100% of birds with tufts. The tufting gene is lethal when a bird has two copies of it, so all tufted araucanas are heterozygous for the trait. So you will always produce some chicks that don't have tufts, no matter what you do.

So if you breed one without tufts to a tufted one? Not thinking about being able to be shown- just want to know if you would get any chicks with them.

Is it the similar to the frizzle gene? I mean how you should not breed frizzle to frizzle.

 

[megcpat]

......and, is it a dominant trait, recessive, ............ not that simple...... ???????

 

[amazondoc]

Quote:
It's soooooooooort of like frizzle....but different, too.

Here's a rough idea of how it works out:

tufted x tufted = 1/4 chicks dead in shell, 1/2 chicks tufted, 1/4 chicks clean face
tufted x clean =1/2 chicks tufted, 1/2 chicks clean face

So if I bred 12 chicks from a tufted x tufted breeding, on average I'd get 6 tufted chicks and 3 clean faced chicks -- total of 9 chicks.
If I bred 12 chicks from a tufted x clean breeding, on average I'd get 6 tufted chicks and 6 clean faced chicks -- total of 12 chicks.

So -- some people will breed tufted x clean in order to get more chicks. However, I personally prefer to breed tufted x tufted so that I have fewer clean faced chicks that I have to worry about. That's a matter of personal preference.

ETA: the tufting gene is a simple dominant gene, but it's lethal in the homozygous state.

 

[megcpat]

Good stuff, amazon doc.

 

[megcpat]

So, if the tufting gene is dominant, then breeding two together who have no tufts can only result in no-tufts on the babies, right?
Flyingmonkeypoop talks about his araucana cross with the pure black eyes that look "alien," which is so interesting to read, because the two blue hens that I have have the darkest eyes I have ever seen on a chicken, there is no distinction between the iris and the pupil.... just all black. Like he said, looks kind of alien. Is this common for the breed? Desired, not desire?

oh, and what does ETA stand for?